St Mary, Westwell
Dec. 10th, 2020 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzy_daveSt Mary's, Westwell was locked, but a notice directed me to get the key from the lady in a house across the road. I put on my best public school accent to counteract the impression created by the long grey hair and the mask but it wasn't necessary as she was undisguisedly friendly and trusting. I had the church to myself and there were no chivying notices posted about how I should wear a mask or wash my hands- and the whole experience was like stepping back into the world as it was at the start of the year- before the fearmongering began.
Oh, I was forgetting; before we parted she gave me a packet of biscuits and asked me if I'd put it in the food bank box inside the door. Like I said, trusting...
St Mary is nothing much to look at on the outside, but inside it's one of the loveliest churches in Kent. Unspoiled. Very early gothic. With accessories that suggest whoever was paying for the job could afford the best craftsmen going.
The chancel arch or screen- with its slender pillars- is elegant and unusual. I won't say unique because I haven't been everywhere yet- but I can't think I've seen anything quite like it. This is the view looking down towards the west end. Simon Jenkins- who gives the church two stars in his guide to the best churches in England- says it looks Islamic- and who's to say the architect or the patron or someone connected with the building hadn't looked about them and taken notes while they were off on the crusades.
The glass in the East window is a remarkable surival- two complete panels from a 13th century Jesse tree with two others sympathetically reconstructed by the Victorians. The quality is first class and if you'd told me this figure- which I think is either King Solomon or King David- was to be found in Canterbury Cathedral- I'd have believed you. Canterbury is only just down the road- (Westwell is on or just off the Pilgrim's Way) and I'll bet the craftsmen who worked there also worked in Westwell.
Again, look at the quality of these carved heads. One of the sites I consulted says the king might be Edward III- which would make his female companion Philippa of Hainault. Personally, I doubt that they're portraits- because the medievals didn't do portraits- but they're lively and characterful. I love it how the king is giving us the full Cheshire cat.
Oh, I was forgetting; before we parted she gave me a packet of biscuits and asked me if I'd put it in the food bank box inside the door. Like I said, trusting...
St Mary is nothing much to look at on the outside, but inside it's one of the loveliest churches in Kent. Unspoiled. Very early gothic. With accessories that suggest whoever was paying for the job could afford the best craftsmen going.
The chancel arch or screen- with its slender pillars- is elegant and unusual. I won't say unique because I haven't been everywhere yet- but I can't think I've seen anything quite like it. This is the view looking down towards the west end. Simon Jenkins- who gives the church two stars in his guide to the best churches in England- says it looks Islamic- and who's to say the architect or the patron or someone connected with the building hadn't looked about them and taken notes while they were off on the crusades.
The glass in the East window is a remarkable surival- two complete panels from a 13th century Jesse tree with two others sympathetically reconstructed by the Victorians. The quality is first class and if you'd told me this figure- which I think is either King Solomon or King David- was to be found in Canterbury Cathedral- I'd have believed you. Canterbury is only just down the road- (Westwell is on or just off the Pilgrim's Way) and I'll bet the craftsmen who worked there also worked in Westwell.
Again, look at the quality of these carved heads. One of the sites I consulted says the king might be Edward III- which would make his female companion Philippa of Hainault. Personally, I doubt that they're portraits- because the medievals didn't do portraits- but they're lively and characterful. I love it how the king is giving us the full Cheshire cat.
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